Door.



W. POTTER.

DOOR.

APILIGATION FILED 5113.14, 191s.

Patented July 14, 1914.

3 SHEETS-SHEET l.

W. PoTTER.

DOOR.

APPLICATION FILED JAN.14, 1913. 1,108,377. Patented July 14,1914,

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2. n `/V f w 3 x w b @i H M I v 1) I w" II (D f z l u RIJN" Y w m N GM D Q um imm-i f W. POTTER.

DOOR.

APYLIGATION FILED JAN. 14, 1913.

Patented July 14,1914.

SSHEETS-SHBET 3.

//////W QM@ @XMS my? (LOI WILLIAM POTTER, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

DOOR.

Specification of `Letters Patent.

IJatentedl J lily 14, 1914.

Application filed. January 14, 1913. Serial No. '741,902'.

Toall whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM POTTER, a citizen of the United States of America, and residing at New York, in the county of New York and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Doors, of which the following is a specification, such as will enable those skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to means for maintaining the parallelism of movement of sliding objects2 particularly with respect to doors of buildings.

' In the usual sliding doors it is customary to provide guiding tracks, either above, beneath, or both, the former requiring an opening in the upper portion of the. door frame for the track trucks or rollers,result ing in a very unsanitary dirt collector impossible of access for cleansing, and the latter preventing the continuity of floor coverings, such as carpets andthe like, and also resulting in a dust and dirt collector, as well as causing frequent stumbling thereover, and in the use of either the door is frequently dislodged from the track, requiring great strength and sometimes skill to replace the saine, and these objectionable features are obviated by means of my present invention.

4A further object of this invention is to maintain a sliding door in permanent parallelism with the floor and frame in any degree of opening thereof.

A further object is to mount the door in the frame in such manner as to be readily removed for substitution or repair, without the necessity of calling in skilled mechanics.

A further object is to provide means, in the installation of the door, for'truing the .same with respect to the frame in the event of a twist or warp in the door.

A further object is to so construct the door asrto permit the usethereof either as a slid ing or a swinging door, the former being preferably employed when it is desired toclose olf one room from another, as in winter for the saving of fuel, and to throw two rooms into one, -as for social functions or in :the summer, when it is desired to have Athe -door out of the way, and the swinging door may be used in the former condition to give .quick and easy access to the closed room without the .Used .0f .Sliding the entire door l and connections backward, this being particularly advantageous when the doors are of heavy design. f

Instead of the tracks above referred to I provide rack bars which are immovably fixed in a concealed position within the wall recess, thus eliminating the disadvantages of the tracks and also avoiding the marring of the woodwork of the door frame and, in

connection therewith, I provide similarly I concealed pinions secured to the door or door carrier enmeshed with corresponding rack bars and anchored to each other in any desired manner to prevent independent movement of the pinions, but the racks might be carried by the door or its carrier and the pinions be in fixed relationship with the door frame if desired, to meetvarying conditions.

My invention is fully described in the following specification, of which the accompanying drawings form a part, in which the separate parts are designated by the same reference characters in each ofv the views, and in whieh-:'

Figure 1 is an elevation of ak door frame and a part of a wall of a room in a building, with the wall partly broken away, and embodying la present preferred form of construction; Fig. 2 is a plan View, taken on the line 2-2 of Fig. l; Fig. 3. is an enlarged7 fragmentary, detail view of the means for maintaining parallelism, taken on the line 3 3 of Fig. l; Fig. 4 is an enlarged section on the line 4-4 of Fig. 1, and showing a triple-acting bolt which I employ; Fig. 5 is a section on the line 5-5 of Fig. 4, with the door in closed position with respect to the frame; Fig. 6 is a fragmentary, enlarged, view, similarto Fig. 2, but showing an ad- 'ustinOy or ,ev ualizinof device which I ma .l s a employ; and Fig. 7 is a section on the line 7-7 of Fig. 6, greatly enlarged.

In the drawings forming a p art of this application I have shown a portion a of an 1nterior wall of a building, having a space a2 between the finished surfaces as and 61.4', as is usual, a door frame being arranged in said wall, said frame comprising theuprights b2 and b3 and the lintel b4 having a groove b5 arranged longitudinally therein, said door kbeing provided with any suitabley trim, but

the upright b2 is provided with a vertical slot between the removable friction strips be and, bf, au of this. being of the usual @0astruction for sliding doors, with the eXception ofthe recess @Sat the outer end of the groove o5.

In the present form of embodiment, I provide a door supporting frame within the wall s ace a2 and entirel inde endent therefrom' I said frame comprising an inner upright o and -two fouter uprights c2 .and c3 adapted to be secured in a concealed position within the said wall space against movement, but in readily detachable manner, `such as by screws or the like tothe wall members or to the floor and ceiling, this being governed by 'condi-y tions, and these uprights are connected together, c and c2 by means of bars. Z having racks Z2 thereon, and 0 and c3 by means of bars (Z3, thus providing a rigid frame for the .sup-port of the door or door carrier.

I-IorizontallyA movable within". the wall space i's a vertical strip @hereinafter ree ferred to as the door carrier, to which a door e2 ishinged, as clearly shown, and saiddoor carrier has two pinionsc3 and c4 rotatably secured thereto by means of a shaft c5 which anchors lthe pinions to each other, and brackr, ets c6, the pinions being enmeshed `with the vided with" rollers es in the upper cleat and e9 inthe lower cleat, the latter to support thefweightpof the door carrier and the' door but,'las will be understood, I may connect the` said pinions and cleats directlywith the door lwhen no door carrier is used, in the.

eventof merely .making the door sliding and not'. swinging.- i'

, In Figs. l', 4 and 5, I have shown a form of bolt which Iemploy in the event of making the door both sliding and swinging, said bolt being normally in the position shown in l for the sliding door at which time it does not project 4beyond the door farther than thedepth of the groove b5, but the bolt f maybe moved downwardly, by means of a t suitable handle f2, pinion f3 and rack f4, sol as to be entirely lwithin the door, thus perniitting the door to swing open on its hinges, and itmay be lmoved upwardly in order toE l lenter the recess ts and thus lock the door'in agclosed position but, as stated, the normal;y

@position is that shown in Fig. 4l.

and care secured in position, andthe friction ,strips replaced, and the ,door is ready for use, and lthis requires no change over4 is employed, the recess t8, and it will be seen that the entire device is just as readily removed for repair or for other reasons and,

because of the pinions and racks, the door :is always in" exact parallelism with the 'floor of the building, in any position of said door, y

after having been once properly installed and adjusted, the adjustment in the form so far described being accomplished byv the positioning of the uprights Yc2 land c3. It y frequently happens, however, that y aldoor vis somewhat twisted or warped, 1n which event `I may employ the device shown in Figs 6 v and 7 at the top of thedoor' carrying frame,

in place of the upper .bar CZE, the'positions of all the other parts remaining ,the same, and, in this connection, it will be noted that the upright c is flo-ating, or independent vof the wall and door frame, although it does rest upon the floor ofthe wall space.4 rjffhis de'- vice comprises a bar 7i in permanent connection with the upright c at its innerend and bent at an angle at yits outer end to provide a support for three screws L'f', h3, and h4, threaded thereinto, the two first `being loosely passed lthrough a metal plate 71,5 securedl in the friction strip t7, and the last having a round head resting in a recess h6 in said plate, an opening 71,' being provided of less diameter than the saidreeess forthe entry of a screw-driver for adjusting the last named screw.. When the door is first installed it isjadjustedlwitliirespectto the slot between the friction strips uwhen inentirely open position and, the 'bottomnecesf' sarily movingtrue because ofthe fixed posi; y tion l of the bottom of the door carrying roo frame, the top Lof the door, if warped,r

scrapes against the edge vof lone 4or the other of the friction strips, accordingtothe direc- Y tion of the twist or warp. In yorder to overcome 4this it is only necessary -to move fthe top of the upright c in the l direction yof the twist .in the door sothat .the upper yrack bar is at a corresponding"inclination to thefbottom, as. indicated by dotted `lines in 6, thus insuring a proper relationship between the door and the slot between lthe frictionY strips at all times regardless of the degree of door opening, and this is accomplished byv lengthening or shortening 4the bar with respect tothe friction strip 57, the former being accomplished by loosening ,thel screws h2 and h3 and unscrewing the screw h4 until n the proper adjustmenth `is attained, after n In mounting my door, I ,remove the fric- .tion strips tfand o7, thus permitting theE C, entryof my door carrying lframe into the'y 4walhspace a2, after which thefuprights c2 whichpth'e screws 7a2 and 7a3 are again tightened; 1n shortening the effective length of the bar 7L the screw h4 is turned .to the1 right A left until it is again tightly seated in the recess 71,6, and in this manner the top of the upright c is moved to the right or left, according to the door twist.

l/Vhile my invention is primarily designed for sliding doors, it will be seen that it renders the combination of both sliding and swinging doors possible, that it is readily mounted in a door frame and as readily removed, that a continual parallelism of movement thereof is assured, that the usual tracks are dispensed with, and that the bolt accommodates 'itself to both a door guide and lock, and also to the use of the swinging door, and it will also be seen that I may adjust the direction of movement of the up per part of the door in the degree of any twist or warp in the door.

My invention is very simple, practical, and comparatively inexpensive in installation, and it also permits the dual use of sliding or swinging not heretofore possible except by providing a supplemental hinged door Within a sliding door, and, while I have shown a present preferred method of putting my in vention into effect, it will be obvious that I am not limited to the exact details shown and described, as various changes in and modifications thereof may be necessary in order to meet varying conditions and,'with a reservation to myself of all suoli changes as come within the scope of the following claim, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is z- In a wall provided with a door opening, a removable frame, a door carrying strip movable horizontally therein, a door pivoted to said strip, means for maintaining said strip in vertical position, a bar secured to the rear of said frame and extending to a point adjacent said door opening, a plate in the frame of said door opening, a screw therein for drawing said bar toward said opening, and a screw therein for limiting the extent of such bar movement, said screws serving to adjust said door carrying frame to compensate for door warping.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention I have signed my name in resence of the subscribing witnesses this lD o 11th day of January, 1913.

WILLIAM POTTER.

Witnesses:

.GEORGE F. BENTLEY,

J. C. LARSEN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C." 

